PhD Mum

This was written from my experience of doing a PhD in a Psychology context. Please note, this experience is always going to be different depending on the subject so whilst I would encourage you to read my experience, I can't guarantee that this is exactly what you will go through if you are not doing a PhD in Psychology. So you have started a PhD – this is the most important decision you have made.  To start.  Well done!  (Try to remember why you made this decision and remind yourself of it throughout your PhD as you will question this at least 10 times a week until you finish it). I found the first 6 months of the PhD the most difficult to adjust to. Not only because I was pregnant, but because the pace of it was so different to what I had been used to. The emphasis was definitely on me, as an academic, developing a research question rather than just “doing a research study”. I think if you go through academic life without a break, this transitio...

What a year 2017 was. I managed to finish a PhD (I am officially Dr Nic ;)) with a toddler kicking around at my heels. I have been very lazy of late with my writing. Since submitting the PhD, I keep wondering what exactly I am going to write about. I started ‘PhD Mum’ almost 2 years ago with the aim of sharing my PhD and parenting journey with others who might be interested in doing the same. I was so hopeful that these small little posts could potentially encourage other parents to return to education and perhaps even provide some sort of support for anyone who is doing the same and having a difficult time – we all need to know that we aren’t alone. I find it is hard to write about my PhD journey without feeling like a 'know-it-all'. I think this is what has held me back from writing much about my PhD experience. Having submitted the thesis and the corrections, I know that each PhD candidate has a different journey and experience to get to the submission point a...

I realise that result sections are very different depending on your specialty and your personal style. But I thought I would give tips as to what I have found makes for a “good” results section in any research piece that I have read/written. I currently write about research within a medical context. The people who read my research are generally clinicians with little to no statistical knowledge or who do not frequently read statistical methods, but who have a lot of interest in the findings and potential implementation of the results.    Within psychology, I have experienced the tendency to “fish” around in the data to report the exciting and juicy significant findings, but this is often at the detriment to the overall quality of the research. This is probably the single most important point . Always refer back to your research aim(s) . This may sound like an obvious thing to do. But often, when your neck deep in figures and tables, you can get side tracked and fo...

It seems so surreal to be able to write about my viva - in which I had to defend my research. It means I have actually done a PhD (!), and survived the process! (I have no idea how long it will take before this sinks in). I had previously read the experience of others and doubted if I would ever make it to this point. I'm sure this is a common feeling to all PhDers - especially those with a toddler hanging off you - at so many points along the journey. Whilst it's all fresh in my mind, I thought I would write about my viva, so that if you are prepping for yours, you can read this and hopefully feel a bit more "ready"!  Pre-viva prep I had about 8 weeks between submitting the thesis and my viva. I didn't look at my thesis until 3 weeks before. This gave me a much needed break and time to think about other stuff. From t-minus 3 weeks, I read through each chapter and made notes - I made a summary of each one, looked for new research, thought about potential ...

I started this blog about 12 months in to my PhD. My monster was turning 2. My mental abilities were returning post-sleep deprivation. As a new mum, I would look at this blog/instagram/Facebook malarkey and wonder why someone would even bother taking the effort of doing this, given the demands of being a mum. As a PhD student, I would think the same. It is time consuming, especially when there is a thesis to write! Here are a few reasons I did: 1. Returning to the PhD after being mum, I felt a sudden lack of confidence. In my ability as an academic and generally as a writer. The process of writing the blog, however imperfect the spelling/grammar/style really helped me to get back onboard with the writing process. This reason alone has made blogging worthwhile. 2. I don't really write with the idea that loads of people will read it, or to provide lots of advice, but the process for me is very cathartic. A psychological break from the daily grind. I hope that somewhere, a mu...